Texans to Draft Good Players ?!?!
I heard something the other day about building winning teams in the NFL. They only used 2 teams as examples but they used 2 of the best in the league right now. The Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts. What do these teams have in common, besides winning? Their GM's built them one side of the ball at a time. Let's first look at the Colts.
They went out and drafted Peyton Manning #1 in 98. Marvin Harrison was already there after they used their 1st round pick in 96 on him. Then here's the other offensive players they picked up after 1996. Tarik Glenn-1-97, Edgerrin James-1-99, Jeff Saturday-FA-99, Reggie Wayne-1-01, Ryan Diem-4-01, Dallas Clark-1-03. Then when James left, they went and got Joseph Addai in the 1st round last year to replace him. But from 96-03 they got their starting QB, RB, 2 WR's, TE, OT, G and C right away. They drafted well but they made their team very competitive on one side of the ball. And ever since then they've been good. Their D sucked but they could at least get you in a shootout and win some games. And if your offense blew, then you lost because Peyton put up points. After they built their offense, they rebuilt the D and it, too, is now a pretty good unit. That's why they're a contender every year now.
OK, but what about the Bears? Don't try and compare the Bears offense to the Colts?
And you're right. I won't. But the Bears did the same thing, just on defense. They drafted Brian Urlacher-1-00, Mike Brown-2-00, Alex Brown-4-02, Charles Tillman-2-03, Lance Briggs-3-03, Ian Scott-4-03, Tommie Harris-1-04, Tank Johnson-2-04 and Nathan Vasher-4-04. These guys are all starters and are the core of their D. Since then they have pieced their offense together through FA and the draft. And I'd suspect you'll see the offensive side of the ball addressed from now on.
But if you look at their last game as an example, you'll see how smart this philosophy is. Their offense turns the ball over 6 times in 1 game. But they still win!!! In part, because their D scored 2 touchdowns in the second half. And you hardcore fans know, this isn't the first time that's happened. Their D has been tremendous at forcing turnovers and scoring the last few years.
And if you think about it, by forcing teams to play grind it out games, the Bears have won a lot of close games lately by doing just enough offensively to win the game. Hell, they had Kyle Orton at QB and reeled off 8 wins last year despite his QB rating 0f 59. David Carr has never done that bad and last year had a rating of 77 to give you an idea how bad that is.
So where am I going with all of this?
This is what the Texans need to do. They need to establish an identity. I don't care if its defense or offense. But they need to concentrate on one side of the ball and turn it into one of the leagues best. And then focus on the next. Right now, we don't have anything. Of course, we did spend a lot of recent high draft picks on defense but a lot of those picks were based on projecting players to play a new position in the pros-Jason Babin, Travis Johnson, Antwan Peek, etc. And we failed on each of these. Now that we're playing a 4-3 (and I think only 3 colleges play a 3-4) it will be much easier to draft for that side of the ball.
My recommendation is to concentrate on the offense. I think Carr is good enough at QB and we have some good receivers and tight ends now. We need to draft a RB with our 1st round pick and pick up a couple lineman in the first couple rounds. We already have 2 young tackles that are, by most accounts, real NFL players. Let's get a G or a C to pair with them. With Kubiak running the Denver system we should be good next year. I firmly believe our offense would be in the top half of the league this year, if Domanick Davis were not injured. I think we're closer than a lot of people give us credit for offensively. And I think you'll see that reflected in the second half of this season.
They went out and drafted Peyton Manning #1 in 98. Marvin Harrison was already there after they used their 1st round pick in 96 on him. Then here's the other offensive players they picked up after 1996. Tarik Glenn-1-97, Edgerrin James-1-99, Jeff Saturday-FA-99, Reggie Wayne-1-01, Ryan Diem-4-01, Dallas Clark-1-03. Then when James left, they went and got Joseph Addai in the 1st round last year to replace him. But from 96-03 they got their starting QB, RB, 2 WR's, TE, OT, G and C right away. They drafted well but they made their team very competitive on one side of the ball. And ever since then they've been good. Their D sucked but they could at least get you in a shootout and win some games. And if your offense blew, then you lost because Peyton put up points. After they built their offense, they rebuilt the D and it, too, is now a pretty good unit. That's why they're a contender every year now.
OK, but what about the Bears? Don't try and compare the Bears offense to the Colts?
And you're right. I won't. But the Bears did the same thing, just on defense. They drafted Brian Urlacher-1-00, Mike Brown-2-00, Alex Brown-4-02, Charles Tillman-2-03, Lance Briggs-3-03, Ian Scott-4-03, Tommie Harris-1-04, Tank Johnson-2-04 and Nathan Vasher-4-04. These guys are all starters and are the core of their D. Since then they have pieced their offense together through FA and the draft. And I'd suspect you'll see the offensive side of the ball addressed from now on.
But if you look at their last game as an example, you'll see how smart this philosophy is. Their offense turns the ball over 6 times in 1 game. But they still win!!! In part, because their D scored 2 touchdowns in the second half. And you hardcore fans know, this isn't the first time that's happened. Their D has been tremendous at forcing turnovers and scoring the last few years.
And if you think about it, by forcing teams to play grind it out games, the Bears have won a lot of close games lately by doing just enough offensively to win the game. Hell, they had Kyle Orton at QB and reeled off 8 wins last year despite his QB rating 0f 59. David Carr has never done that bad and last year had a rating of 77 to give you an idea how bad that is.
So where am I going with all of this?
This is what the Texans need to do. They need to establish an identity. I don't care if its defense or offense. But they need to concentrate on one side of the ball and turn it into one of the leagues best. And then focus on the next. Right now, we don't have anything. Of course, we did spend a lot of recent high draft picks on defense but a lot of those picks were based on projecting players to play a new position in the pros-Jason Babin, Travis Johnson, Antwan Peek, etc. And we failed on each of these. Now that we're playing a 4-3 (and I think only 3 colleges play a 3-4) it will be much easier to draft for that side of the ball.
My recommendation is to concentrate on the offense. I think Carr is good enough at QB and we have some good receivers and tight ends now. We need to draft a RB with our 1st round pick and pick up a couple lineman in the first couple rounds. We already have 2 young tackles that are, by most accounts, real NFL players. Let's get a G or a C to pair with them. With Kubiak running the Denver system we should be good next year. I firmly believe our offense would be in the top half of the league this year, if Domanick Davis were not injured. I think we're closer than a lot of people give us credit for offensively. And I think you'll see that reflected in the second half of this season.
posted by christopher at 2:16 PM
1 Comments:
Well, I know it was just one game that they won, but you have got to say that this year's draft is looking a little bit better. Mario Williams, he has a lot of potential and he is just starting to scratch the surface...DeMeco Ryans, has looked really good this so far this season...Wali Lundy, ok, it was just one game, and Owen Daniels, who is contributing. They seem to be making a slight impact, and they can only get a little better from here...maybe.
It goes to show just how bad the Casserly reign was. I knew it was bad, but over the last week or so (and the release of the bust, Buchannon) I have come to realize just how terrible Casserly was handling this Franchise...
So there is some hope now...at least, I think so...
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